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you lot dont know how to play

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 28
Date: July 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

the fact is, Americans dont have a clue how to play soccer, thats why you guys find it hard.

its the best soccer game around. fifa is pants, too easy.

The best football game on the market by a mile

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 16
Date: June 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I cannot believe this game has an average rating of 4 stars on amazon, this is as close to perfection as a football sim will ever get. Anyone who thinks FIFA is better than this is frankly an idiot, all it has over Winning Eleven (Pro Evolution Soccer in the UK) is full licensing of world teams and leagues. I believe that in the US EA's John Madden games have got a monopoly on the official license, and this is how EA rely on shifting units. The gameplay on FIFA is absolute garbage, anyone who knows anything about football or video games will tell you this, Winning Eleven plays the game exactly how it should be played.

The other criticism i've seen on here is people saying it's too hard, well with all due respect you obviously aren't that good at it then. I consider myself an expert at the game and recently won the master league on 6 stars winning 27 of 30 league games and completing the treble as well. The game has a steep learning curve because it rewards skill, unlike FIFA where a complete novice can pick it up and beat someone who owns the game. If you insist on full licensing and and simple and basic computer AI that is easy to beat then you shouldn't own this game anyway, this is strictly for the football purist and believe me it pis*es all over that heap of sh*t FIFA. I will continue my plea to Konami however to try harder to get better licensing next year, if they do than this will wipe the floor sales wise with FIFA.

Still the Best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: February 12, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Konami's World Soccer Winning Eleven series continues to impress with this new installment. There are plenty of new features including a brand new physics system that allows your players to move around the pitch more realistically. This also prevents easy goals as your shots are no longer automatically aimed at the goal, you'll now have to trigger your own shots with greater accuracy. The controls are tighter than ever before that even the most skilled Winning Eleven players will have to adjust to the new style. Not to fear as this isn't a burden, it gives the game even more of a realistic feel. Players in the game will lose control of the ball as in real life and jostle for position when a cross in coming in or a clearance has been made. One problem in the new features is the amount of calls by referees for simple fouls that really shouldn't stop the game from continuing.

There are 138 clubs and 57 International teams present, but be aware that many of them are not licensed and do not carry their official kits or crests. But there is still plenty of new licensed clubs and kits most notably the addition of big name clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea, Rangers, Celtic, and Galatasaray. Licensed leagues are present including the Italian Serie A, Dutch Eredivisie, and Spanish Primera. This includes all of their clubs with the exception of Italy's Cagliari Calcio. There are plenty of stadiums to choose from all of which are highly detailed and true to their real life counterparts, with the exception of some official names. Anything that isn't licensed in the game however, can be edited to precision in the expansive Edit mode feature within the game. This is the cornerstone of the Winning Eleven series aside from the exciting game play. In Edit mode you can change and alter anything from boots, stadiums, kits, crests, players, and much more.

The list of moves that can be performed in the game are seemingly unlimited and each play a great deal of depth and precision to your own "game." Many of them can be triggered easily, while others can be quite difficult and require practice. This is where the game's excellent training mode comes in as it will help novices and veterans alike in showing off some key moves, passing drills, and other training skills alike. The graphics are wonderful, with great player models and backgrounds. The crowd could use some work however, and player faces could use a bit more emotion than they currently express in situations. Kits are spot on and look great, most of which are so detailed you can see the mesh holes and minor details perfectly.

Another key feature is online play, which most gamers these days want in a game. The online play is just as expansive but your saved edits in the game cannot be used online. This has a good and bad side. The good is that nobody will be able to cheat by using statistical edited players to help them win. The bad side is that the rosters in the game are so out of date or incorrect that you may be a bit disappointed that edits cannot be used for online play. My suggestion is to just invite a bunch of friends over and have a great time playing multi-player.

Now for the replay value of this series, the Master League. This is where you can take one of the clubs present in the game and turn them into a football powerhouse. You will go through the basics of taking care of a club through a generic UEFA style career facing against other clubs that are present in your division. You'll have great times transferring players around and keeping things fresh on your roster so that each match you play will be just as exciting and keep you playing season after season. You can even save your Master League club and use them in a match in exhibition mode. You can even link up your PSP and use the club on there for mobile action. Each match you play and every league or cup you win you'll earn WE Points that can be used to open up new items in the WE Shop. The large WE Shop is filled with plenty of goodies to open up including match balls, players, classic teams and more. Aside from all of these great features there is a new weather type where you can play in snowy climates. The commentary also lacks depth but it is forgivable.

Personally I can't stop playing this game as it takes up many hours of my day not only playing matches but editing and opening up new items. The price is definitely worth the purchase. Here is my rating system for World Soccer Winning Eleven 9 International.

Graphics - 4 out of 5
Control - 5 out of 5
Sound - 4 out of 5
Replay Value - 5 out of 5
Gameplay - 5 out of 5

Uh... Too Hard?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: September 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

[...]
This game is in no way "only accessable to hardcore footie fans." Anyone who finds matches to be too easy can simply change the difficulty setting before playing a match/starting a season, etc.

I turned the difficulty to the lowest setting (one star), and tore through games (with 90 minutes elapsed down to 15), scoring a hat trick with at least two players (that's at least six goals for... well, people who have no idea what I'm talking about.)

I love the International League, National Series, Quest For The Cup... heck, I love absolutely every mode in this game.

Once people discover that the difficulty can be easily adjusted to match your virtual footie skills, I think this could be the game that introduces many people who didn't quite understand the beauty of a well-played game of football (even if said game ends up in a scoreless draw), to the joy of working your [...] off, executing the right plays at the right time and making the opponents virtual keeper look like a fool.

Best footie game ever... Until WE10 hits the U.S.

to my W.E. junkie brothers in Canada and U.S.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: February 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

this is a must get. i'm sure you've heard all about it online. been playing it for almost a year now (japanese version), and i'm still hooked to it. i'm not gonna bored you with all the details of the game, but i can say that at first it'll feel totally different from WE8. you may not score many goals in the beginning, but just be patient. it'll take you a while to get use to the controls. the gameplay is SMOOOOOOOOOOOOTH, even with all the players on your screen. it's like playing the series for the first time, but once you've got it down, this game is just too addictive.

hope to see you all online!

Simply the Best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: June 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Quite possibly the greatest game ever created. Period.
Yes, the game lacks some licenses and has some ficticious names in place....not a problem. Do a google search. There are option files available where groups of players (mostly in Europe, Mexico, and South America) have created option files that have all the current uniforms, flags, badges, stats, names...etc....I just downloaded the "watson world cup option file" and it is brilliant. You have to have a max drive, which subsequently you can purchase on amazon as well. Buy this game.
JC
austin, tx

Pro Evolution Soccer 5

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: February 11, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Autumn is upon us and with it comes a few guarantees. The nights are becoming darker and colder; leaves are changing colour, falling from trees and clogging up gutters across the land and shops are starting to play Xmas songs on loop. But its not all doom and gloom cause autumn also means its time for the release of the next edition of Pro Evo!

The general format of the game is the same as its predecessor but its been given the makeover treatment with new look menu screens, intro and background music. There's a new layout to choosing your side, which works very well, but other than that the menu screens, are the same as PES4. As usual fully licensed teams are limited but there have been a few additions such as Chelsea and Arsenal to the starting selection that will help things tick over until you get a fully edited option file. (I'm sure I speak on behalf of all Pro Evo fanatics when I say a big "thank you" to those geeks who spend days sorting out every last detail for the convenience of the masses)

There's a different feel to controlling the players, which means you'll have to adapt your style of play if you're used to PES4. To begin with it seems that the player's are a little slower when turning or dribbling past an opponent and their ability to tackle is weaker. But the more you play the easier it becomes and you discover it's all about the timing of pressuring the man on the ball or taking a different approach to beating a man. The number of new skills and movements isn't overwhelming but its good to see they have fine-tuned some of the basic manoeuvres and added some extra animations to things like heading. All the new touches make the game appear even more realistic than previous versions but also a greater challenge, so if you like arcade style action then this isn't for you. But that's always been the case, if you like to score pretty looking goals without any depth and realism to the surrounding interplay then get FIFA.

The standard cup and leagues are still there along with the Master League so there's nothing fresh to inform you about. To some Master League is a slog not worth bothering with but to others, myself included, its what makes the game have an everlasting appeal. The haggling over transfers and training a player up from scratch is not an easy task but it brings great rewards. But the real excitement comes when you pitch your wits against a human opponent (or opponents if you have a multi-tap). Competition tends to get fairly heated and you find yourself shouting out and punching the air when you get a cheeky last minute winner. You don't have long to bask in the glory though as there's always another challenger waiting in the wings to take you on or the loser immediately demands a re-match.

Once again the stats are very accurate so you can clearly see the difference in ability between the individual players. Ronaldinho even has his `flick-flack' dribble, which is very satisfying when executed to perfection and puts you through on goal.

The graphics are top notch and are accentuated by the realistic player movements. They've included a few extra cut scenes for fouls and in the opening sequence some extra crowd footage along with different camera angles around the stadium. Unfortunately the commentary hasn't been drastically improved and quite a lot of it is the same as PES4. But if you're a long-term follower of the Pro Evo ways you'll be used to blanking out Trevor Booking's irrelevant drones by now. The background music has been funked up which at times sounds a bit like the music from Seinfeld on Speed. But to be honest they could make the background music some of Essex's wildest garage tunes and it still wouldn't put me off getting the game because its excellent gameplay rules above everything else.

So, is it worth upgrading to Konami's latest version of the great game? Of course it is. It's a new and improved formula and even though the changes aren't massive they are there and open up a whole new barrel of tactics to try out. Plus, if you don't get PES5 and all your mates have it then you'll be left pissing in the wind a lot of the time cause the shooting power bar isn't the same.

Same situation as before really, if you love football then this is another step closer to the real thing and you'll own it already, or at least have it reserved. Hours and hours of pleasure await you.

9 out of 10

Best Soccer Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Winning eleven 9 is even more real. Everything is harder than the last game and that is what makes the game much more fun and challengingn like the real soccer we see on t.v.

THE definitive footie game for the true soccer purist.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Winning Eleven has consistantly bettered itself over the years and, not surprisingly, again this year.
There is not a terrible amount of new additions and it may be debateable as to whether a purchase is warranted if you already have last years entry.
This time around a new control scheme has been thrown in that really takes the playability to a new level. Now one on one moves are done with the left joystick on the PS2. This ads a whole new dimension to the controls and allows for a more precise and fair feeling scheme. It is a bit unothodox at first but after a few games I was very comfortable with it and I look forward to seeing exactly how proficient a tool I can make this new tactic.
As with before everything else is perfect. THe only thing still missing is more authorized teams and jerseys, but there are actually more included this time around, though still not as many as with FIFA 06. Still, if you are a true soccer fan and a purist of the sport, then there is no comparison. Winning Eleven is THE game for all footie fans. Excellent and fun...even for non soccer fans.

Once again, Winning Eleven is the best.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

\Konami excels (again) with Winning Eleven 9 and its slightly improved graphics (PS2 got to its limits, we can't ask for more. But PS3 is coming!), awesome controls and big variety of moves.

Now we all know which the big problem with Winning Eleven is; the lack of licenses that don't allow them to have the name of certain players and teams. Unfortunately EA makes so much money from the Madden and NBA Live series that it makes them have the main contracts with FIFA. But still you find tons of names here and it's certainly better than before.

Everything is improved and actualized and let's say, pretty close to reality. If you play with England you have and awesome team with Owen and Rooney scoring goals and Lampard, Gerrard and Beckamp playing as midfielders with all the skills that we all know they have in real life.
With Brazil it's even hard to decide which players you want in the field with all those names and the teams have also perfect formation systems. Not one detail was left aside, even Ronaldinho plays as a left forward instead of playing behind the central forward like in WE8, because in real life, that's his position today in Barcelona.

But the most important thing here is the controls and the visuals. WE series have always being superior to other football (or soccer if you prefer) videogames and beats EA's FIFA series year after year. Especially this one in which FIFA 2006 is so boring it doesn't even have a camera to watch close and horizontally. I mean let's get real. Getting a game in which you even choose your sponsors may be cool, like with FIFA 2006. But playing a game with awesome controls, more and better looking moves and that it's actually ENTERTAINING while you are playing on the field, is way more important.

If you have the money (and the time) to buy both games, then that's fine. But if you can only buy and/or play one, make no mistake. Winning Eleven 9 is THE game. Heck, WE as a game, graphically with those motions and controls, is even superior to the 2K series and its basketball, football and baseball games. In the States "soccer" may not be popular, but WE has demonstrated being the best sports game out there, period.
Here you have hours and hours of pure entertainment. Leagues, cups, training. You can learn the new moves or start creating your own strategies according to the skills of the players that you have. Even new positions were added (Winning back and Second Top). And don't worry about difficulty. Level 6 provides a good challenge even for experts.

Nothing else to say. Winning Eleven 9 = The best.

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